Burial caskets typically include a casket body and a casket lid. At least a portion of the casket lid is capable of opening and being secured in an open position in order to allow viewing of the deceased. Because the inside of the casket lid is prominently displayed during a viewing, casket lids often include a decorative interior that is aesthetically pleasing to an individual viewing the casket.
In general, the unadorned underside of a casket lid includes structural elements such as wood or metal planks or supports, fasteners and the like. It is therefore desirable and commonplace to employ a casket lid interior assembly that includes fabric and shell structures to adorn and soften the underside of the casket lid frame.
Burial caskets can employ a wide variety of decorative designs for the interiors of casket lids. A common casket lid interior design includes rolls or decorative edge pieces and a center panel. Rolls are shaped design features that extend inward from each edge of the casket lid to form a picture frame effect. The center panel is disposed within the casket lid such that the center panel is substantially bordered by the rolls. Both the center panel and rolls hide the otherwise functional and non-aesthetic underside of the metal or wood (or paperboard) casket lid structural frame.
Typically, the rolls, center panel, and other decorative elements of the casket lid interior include a decorative fabric cover over a framed backing structure, typically made of cardboard, posterboard, and/or corrugated paper. The decorative cover may be a simple plain fabric cover, or a fabric cover with decorative stitching or other decorative elements.
In particular, the center panel cover can consist of a multiple layers of fabric sewn or stitched together. The center panel cover is affixed to and over a cardboard or paperboard center panel frame. An outermost layer of the center panel cover may consist of a decorative material having aesthetically appealing features. This layer is stitched or sewn to a lower layer of the cover, which in turn is glued, stapled or otherwise affixed to the center panel frame. In order to effectively stitch or sew the decorative layer to the lower layer, it is preferable to use a material for the lower layer that can be easily stitched or sewn into, and that produces a clean and smooth overall appearance between the decorative layer and the lower layer.
One such material is a foam pad. A foam pad can easily be stitched or sewn into, and provides for sew lines that are quite smooth and clean. This allows aesthetically desirable stitch patterns to be more easily achieved. However, a prominent issue with using such foam pads is that the original color of the pad can change over a short period of time, and can produce visually off-putting colors that can penetrate through the decorative layer and become visible to an individual viewing the casket. Because the outermost layer is typically thin and often white or close to white, the color of the foam pad can bleed through, providing an undesirable appearance.
Therefore, there is a need for a center panel cover for use in a center panel of a casket lid interior that includes layers that can effectively hide the colors of a foam pad, as well as hide any imperfections produced by stitching or sewing of the center panel layers.